This guide will walk you through CRM sales management tools and how they can help your sales team provide an excellent experience at every stage in the customer lifecycle.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is key to winning over customers and driving sales. Whether you’re a sales manager or small business owner, CRM software is good to have in your toolbox.
With CRM, your sales force can meet business goals and build stronger customer relationships. CRM also encourages teamwork and keeps your sales force on task.
Because CRM is such an effective way to gather data and set up touchpoints on multiple channels, the CRM market is projected to grow 14% through 2025.
Want to learn more? This beginner guide will introduce you to CRM sales management and its main benefits.
- What is CRM sales management?
- What is a CRM system?
- What is a sales CRM?
- What is CRM software used for in marketing?
- Key benefits of CRM sales management systems
What is CRM sales management?
CRM sales management is how you manage customer interactions across the sales cycle. This includes the processes, actions, and technologies used to acquire and retain customers. The main goals of CRM are to nurture customer relationships and drive profitability.
CRM also helps sales team members with pipeline management. Through CRM tools, you can better understand where leads stand in the sales funnel.
That’s because CRM platforms let you visualize the full customer journey, from lead generation to customer retention. This helps with forecasting and streamlining sales activities.
What is a CRM system?
A CRM system is the software used to simplify CRM business processes. People often use the term “CRM” to refer to the tool for tracking deals and customer interactions.
When juggling several contacts and team members, it’s easy to lose sight of key information. CRM apps keep all the info you need in one place, from customer data to sales leads.
Manage your deals, contacts, and companies in Brevo Sales Platform
A good CRM sales management tool centralizes your key business processes. Companies use CRM to streamline their sales activities on one platform. CRM also lets you store customer information and coordinate sales reps’ workflows with a single customer view.
With CRM tools, spend less time updating information on different spreadsheets. Keep records of your interactions with potential customers. Assign tasks to members of your sales force. And manage your deal pipeline in a few clicks.
CRM also helps with contact segmentation. Assign contacts to different deals and owners. Sort records into customizable categories and deal stages (new, qualifying, demo).
Brevo Sales Platform helps keep track of all the deals in your pipeline
Related: 5 Best CRMs for Real Estate in 2023: Benefits, Tips, & Use Cases
What is a sales CRM?
A sales CRM is a tool that lets companies manage customer relationships over the sales cycle.
The main function of a sales CRM is a sales pipeline. All prospects are added to a pipeline for easy, straightforward monitoring. Then companies use features in their CRM like task automation and meetings to help nurture leads down the sales funnel.
Let’s see how.
Sales CRM management for the prospecting stage
In the prospecting stage, finding qualified sales leads is key. CRM helps with finding prospects with lead scoring. From there, CRM acts as a central database for contact management.
Sales CRM management for closing deals
Sales CRM also plays an important role in the pitching and closing stages. Sales reps use CRM to schedule demos, send reminders to gather client signatures, and gain valuable insight into a prospect’s pain points and needs.
Sales CRM management for after sales
After closing, sales CRM tools come in handy. Companies use CRM to manage cross-selling or upselling opportunities or maintain customer loyalty sales cycles.
Real world example of sales CRM management
The Recording Studio London uses Brevo to filter leads so that their team can focus on real potential. Every new lead goes straight to the sales pipeline. From there, The Recording Studio can manage tasks like getting more information to arranging quotes and followup emails.
Read the full case study and see how The Recording Studio London streamlines lead qualification and boosts efficiency with Brevo’s Sales Platform.
Types of CRMs
There are three main types of sales CRMs. Read on to learn more and find the best sales CRM for your team.
- Operational: The main goal of operational CRMs is to streamline business processes. Use it to record customer interactions, score leads, and set up sales or marketing automation.
- Analytical: Analytical CRMs analyze customer data and uncover trends in customer behavior and other insights. This helps you make smarter decisions.
- Collaborative: With collaborative CRMs, different teams can work on sales together, sharing up-to-date information across channels. Collaborative CRMs are mainly aimed at customer service.
What is CRM used for in marketing?
Many CRM features include marketing functionalities, like email automation software.
Use CRM tools to track customer journeys and manage marketing campaigns. Need to target your marketing efforts? CRM systems are great for personalization.
That’s because they gather customer information in real-time, from marketing preferences to purchase history. Marketing teams use these metrics to optimize marketing campaigns with personalized recommendations and followups. The result is happier customers and stronger customer relationships.
In a study by McKinsey & Company, 76% of consumers said they’re more likely to buy from companies that personalize the customer experience.
Brevo Sales Platform centralizes sales and marketing workflows on one platform. Try it for unlimited contact management, task allocation, appointment scheduling, and more. Deliver a personalized experience your clients will love.
Key benefits of CRM sales management systems
The best CRM systems encourage collaboration and help companies meet their business goals. Read on to learn more about the main CRM benefits.
Drive sales
Use CRM solutions to drive sales and collect valuable contact information. This includes past customer interactions over email, phone calls, and chatbot.
From there, pull insights from customer data. CRM lets you identify easy wins and boost profitability. With CRM tools, increase sales by as much as 29%.
CRM systems also improve visibility. Let all team members see the deals in the sales pipeline. From there, prioritize leads based on the highest interest. That way, you’re less likely to miss out on a lucrative sales opportunity.
Boost efficiency
CRM sales management tools help increase efficiency. In fact, CRM software can boost process efficiency by 73%.
Use CRM to track each sales rep’s activities. CRM software lets you prioritize leads and assign tasks (deadlines, to-dos). From there, focus on the sales opportunities with the most revenue impact.
CRM solutions also simplify all processes related to customer relationship management. This frees up your schedule to optimize sales opportunities and follow-up with leads. That way, your team can devote more effort to closing deals.
Automate workflows
CRM automation saves you valuable time and effort. With CRM, spend less energy on lead management and sales processing.
Automate repetitive tasks, like sending follow-up emails and scheduling meetings. Many CRM tools let you trigger workflows at different steps in the sales pipeline.
Encourage collaboration
CRM systems make it easy for your entire company to work together. Bring your sales, marketing, and customer service teams onto a single platform.
With CRM, everyone has up-to-date information on previous interactions and communication history. This helps your team better understand customer journeys and build stronger relationships.
Improve the customer experience
Boost customer satisfaction with a CRM sales management system. Record your communication across channels. Discover your customers’ needs based on their social media interactions and purchase history.
CRM also helps with customer retention. Make it easy for customers to resolve issues without repeating the same information. Be sure to save customer complaints in the CRM system. If the customer contacts you again, the next customer support representative will be prepared to act.
Related: The Best CRMs for Consulting Firms & Professionals
Get started with CRM sales management with Brevo
Sign up for a CRM sales management software and grow your business. Brevo is a cloud-based CRM that simplifies how you manage tasks and customer relationships.
Monitor your sales pipelines, assign tasks, and manage customer interactions — all with one easy-to-use platform. Try Brevo’s Sales Platform for free and get powerful tools for leveling up your sales processes.
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